Like You Want It
by Lynsey Schadegg
Summary: Act like you want it, and you just might get it. Part of the Boy Toy Series. Rufus/Cloud, Sephiroth/Cloud. Warnings: Language, sexual themes
1. Prologue

Characters: Cloud, Sephiroth, Rufus

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Sexual themes, language

Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or its characters. I do not make any money from this fiction.

Summary: Act like you want it, and you just might get it.

"I need you to do something for me." Rufus Shinra lounged on his couch, the butter soft leather caressing his naked skin.

Cloud swallowed and looked up. Removing the swollen dick from his mouth, Cloud sighed, "Do you _have_ to try to engage me in conversation _now_? I'm a little busy." He licked a long, wet swath up the pulsing flesh in front of him.

Rufus smiled and licked his dry lips. "Fine, finish me off and we'll talk about it later."

"_Nooo_, we won't. Now I want to know what was so important that you interrupted a _blow job_ for it." The blond brought himself from his kneeling position to flop onto the couch. He grabbed a throw blanket from the back and threw it over Rufus' lap. "Ok, so what is it?"

Rufus sighed. He really should have thought before he spoke, but something about having his dick in that hot little mouth left brain function by the way side. "You aren't going to like it."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "So. If you really _cared_ that I wasn't going to like it you wouldn't have brought it up."

"You're smarter than you look," Rufus smirked

Cloud swatted him and glared.

"Anyway," Rufus continued, "I need you to go on a…_mission_ of sorts. The good General is getting rather uncontrollable. It's like walking on eggshells, and I'm getting tired of it. I want you to sleep with him."

Cloud's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He closed his mouth with a sharp _snap_ and brought his pointed finger to jab at Rufus' chest. "I," jab, "am," jab, "not," jab, "your whore!" jabjabjab.

"No, you're my boyslut," Rufus smiled and grabbed Cloud's jabbing finger. "And I'm fairly certain this isn't the worst thing I could ask you to do."

"I don't fucking care!" Cloud bellowed, jerking his hand back. "You're an asshole. I'm not sleeping with someone just to smooth out your _business life_."

"Cloud," Rufus said, smile disappearing. He grasped Cloud's hands and held them between his own. "All jokes aside, I think he needs it. He's more tightly wound than…well…I can't even come up with an appropriate metaphor. He needs to relax before he blows up and kills everyone."

Clouds face was still pouting and angry, but beginning to show signs of intrigue. "So, basically, he needs to get _laid_."

"Exactly."

Curiosity. "Why me?"

"I don't know anyone else who could be better. You make me forget about all the stress in my life. You make me smile. You're an unbelievable fuck…I think you would be good for him."

"Still…"

"I'm buying you a condo by Icicle Inn. Right by the slopes with a private ski lift. Not far from the downtown area and the main lodge. I'm going to order him to go there with you to…be your bodyguard as it were."

Blue eyes alit with sheer, unadulterated happiness. "You _finally_ got me the condo I wanted?" A nod. "The one with the hot tub and the antler chandeliers and the _reindeer petting zoo_?" Another nod. Cloud screamed hysterically and hugged the other blond.

"I take it you're pleased?" Rufus said dryly, voice muffled by fluffy blond hair.

"_Beyond_," Cloud sighed happily. "But you know, he's never going to fall for any _cock and bull_ story about me needing a body guard. And _why_ would you send the General of the fucking _army_ to protect someone he sees as an over-paid whore?"

Sometimes, Rufus forgot how shrewd Cloud was underneath the veneer of bubbly blond boy-toy.

"I guess I can't put anything past you, can I?"

Cloud snorted and leaned back against the couch. "Well?"

Rufus sighed, realizing he was well and truly beyond the point of no return. He wasn't getting that blowjob finished any time soon.

"Truth is," Rufus sighed, standing up and retrieving his pants, "you really will need a bodyguard. I have lots of enemies, Cloud. And just the other day…" he moved to a small desk that served as a mail and junk holder. The blond used a key from the key-ring he pulled from his pants to unlock one of the many drawers. An envelope was extracted that Rufus opened and pulled a letter out of. "This," Rufus said, waving the letter in the air, "is a death threat, yadda yadda letter. I get them all the time, all of them are _crap_. This one isn't any different, except they're threatening _you_. If I don't pay their ransom, they're apparently going to kill you."

Cloud's eyes widened and he stood up to grab the letter from Rufus. His eyes widened as he read through the letter. His jaw dropped. "These people are disgusting!"

"Disgusting and full of crap," Rufus agreed. "Normally, I'd have the Turks track this down and nip it in the bud, but this time I'm going to…" Rufus raised his eyebrows. "let it play out a little. Pretend that this is more than some amateur looking for an easy stash of gil."

"How do you know they're _not_ an amateur?" Cloud asked dubiously.

Rufus chuckled. "I've already had the Turks check it out. Total crap. Nobodies looking for what they think is easy money."

"But…Sephiroth doesn't know that."

"No, he doesn't," Rufus agreed. "All he will know is that we're going to set a trap for a dangerous and tricky gang of adversaries."

"So…I'll be safe," Cloud wanted reassured.

"As safe as my bank account. And anyway, do you _really_ think anything would get past Sephiroth, even if this was real?"

Cloud nodded and put down the paper. "So…a trap?"

"Attract the bad guys to you. Make you seem vulnerable," Rufus waved his hand from one statement to the other, "Sephiroth saves you. You're so grateful for the rescue, you'd do _anything_ to thank him."

"You make me sound like a good actor."

Rufus sat down and put his arm around Cloud's shoulder. "Baby, you've been lying to me and yourself from day one. I think you can pull this off."

Cloud blushed and pushed Rufus' arm off. "What am I lying about?"

"You're telling yourself," Rufus said as he leaned in to Cloud's ear, "that you don't mind being treated like a thing. That you don't mind paying your way in sex. You don't care that I bought you from an under-plate bordello."

Cloud looked away. "I'm better off now."

Rufus turned the blond head back to face him. "I know you are, baby. And you know that I'd give you anything for what you do for me."

The young blond turned his face into the hand that cradled it. "I know."

"Alright then," Rufus said with gentle finality. "You'll fuck the General, and make him a little less _uptight_."

Cloud giggled quietly.

Rufus smiled and kissed Cloud's cheek. "And you can name your reward."

"And I get to keep the condo, too?"

"And you can keep the condo, too."

Cloud grinned brightly. "You're going to _really_ regret that."


	2. Chapter 1

Characters: Cloud, Sephiroth, Rufus

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Sexual themes, language

Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or its characters. I do not make any money from this fiction.

Summary: Act like you want it, and you just might get it.

"This is _fucking_ ridiculous," Sephiroth griped as he flung his duffle bag onto the conveyer that would take it into the cargo hold of the plane.

Cloud huffed and motioned for the hired man to put his own luggage onto the conveyer. Matching, of course. In baby blue.

"Don't bitch at _me_," Cloud sniped. "_I'm_ not the one that ordered you to come." He flipped his blond hair out of his eyes and smiled sweetly at the tall, foreboding general. "Think of it as a vacation."

"I have to follow your annoying, blond bimbo _ass_ around the fucking _coldest_ place on Gaia just because _someone_ might _kidnap_ your ridiculous, _fag-tastic_, drama-queen self. I should be doing something constructive. Like _killing things_."

Cloud pouted cutely. "You, sir, are an A plus _asshole_. Seriously. Chill a little bit." The blond flounced to the stairs that lead into the private jet. He skipped upward and waved from the top of the stairs.

Sephiroth sighed heavily and followed in a much more dignified way.

The inside of the jet was expensively and tastefully decorated. Cloud was already busy at the fully stocked bar, shuffling around and making a lot of noise. Sephiroth sat on one of the overstuffed chairs and crossed his legs, leaning his head in a propped up hand in a bored, stiff manner.

Cloud turned around with two glasses in hand. He handed one to Sephiroth before sitting down in his own chair and taking a sip of his own.

Suspicious, Sephiroth scented the tumbler in his hand. Whiskey. Expensive whiskey. The kind he liked. He took a slow, savoring sip and hummed appreciatively.

"How do you know what kind I like?"

Cloud flopped over the arm of his chair, seemingly boneless. The hand that held his drink precariously dragged on the ground. "I've seen you at a lot of functions," Cloud said lazily. "You always go to the bar, first thing. You order a glass of that," the blond gestured with his free hand. "And another and another. I see a lot more than most people think I do."

Sephiroth frowned and hid it behind his drink as he took another sip. "I didn't think you could see anything beyond your under-plate skanky-ness."

"You'd be surprised at what people are blind to, when all they see is a stupid blond whore."

Sephiroth snorted disdainfully. "Are they all that far off the mark?"

Cloud smiled. "Completely," he purred.

Their conversation ceased as they felt the plane start to rumble along the tarmac. It wasn't long before they were in the air, and Cloud traded his seat for the overstuffed couch that sat under one bank of windows. The blond was asleep in minutes, breathing softly and thick lashes fanned over his cheeks.

Sephiroth watched the sleeping blond. He had forsaken his glass in favor of drinking right out of the bottle. The smooth glass was cool against his lips as he tipped more of the burning liquid down his throat. He couldn't get falling-down drunk, the mako saw to that, but he could and would get good and tipsy.

Cloud licked his lips in his sleep and rolled onto his side, both arms tucked under his head. He looked so innocent like that, even though Sephiroth knew he was anything but. He'd seen the blond from time to time at a multitude of functions, but the only time he'd gotten up close to the little harlot had been the day Cloud had been in the stands in one of the training rooms.

He'd been interested. More than interested. The blond hadn't shown a single ounce of fear when facing him down. Everyone had some vestige of fear when in his presence, even Zack, but Cloud had treated him like any other average joe. It had been…intoxicating. Not that he would admit that to anyone but himself.

That was why he'd thrown a tantrum of epic proportions when informed of his _mission_, but he'd still agreed to go along. Reluctantly, of course. Giving in too easily would have aroused suspicion. This way, he could…gage Cloud a little bit better.

And watch him sleep like some dodgy pervert.

**********************

The airport at Icicle Inn was bustling when they got there. Cloud had bundled himself in some ridiculous parka with more fake fur than a trashy sex store. The outfit was completed by boots trimmed in more fur, and Sephiroth wanted to find someone from PITA to throw paint on the blond. A limo awaited them right on the tarmac, and the two piled in and waited for the trunk to be loaded with their belongings.

"The first thing we're going to do," Cloud said with wide, bright eyes, "is go to the reindeer petting zoo!"

Sephiroth groaned. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Cloud looked offended. "Who doesn't want to pet _reindeer_?"

"Me."

"I should start calling you Scrooge."

"Go ahead. Like I give a fuck."

Cloud's eyes shined with an evil glint that Sephiroth didn't trust. "Can I call you anything I want?"

Now he _really_ didn't trust the blond, but he'd totally loose the badass factor if he gave in now. "Whatever."

Cloud smiled. "Alright snooky-wookums."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes and turned his attention out the window.

The blond snuggled into the comfortable seat for a moment before remembering there would be a mini-bar in any limo Rufus ordered and set to work finding it. A cry of victory heralded a bottle of wine and two glasses. "Want some?" Cloud asked as he poured himself a glass. A very generous glass.

Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow. "Didn't you have enough on the plane?"

Cloud huffed and shoved a full glass at the general whether he wanted it or not. "Do I _look_ drunk to you?"

The silver haired man shook his head, defeated on that point. Cloud actually acted more sober than Sephiroth felt. Maybe he shouldn't have polished off that entire bottle by himself…

He shrugged and sipped at the expensive red, wincing at the taste. He wasn't a big fan of wine. He didn't like the taste, and it did little to take the edge off. He hated the taste of all alcohol actually, but at least some of it had a use.

The entire bottle was gone before they reached the condo complex. Cloud dragged Sephiroth out of the limo bodily and tramped happily through the snow to the small park created in the middle of the high-class buildings. They hadn't even gone into the condo first to unpack their shit, which made Sephiroth edgy. He liked everything to be done on a schedule and a routine. Whenever he shipped out, the first thing he always did on arrival was scope out the place he'd be staying and setting up shop. To have his routine fucked with was _not_ a good way to start a supposed _mission_. Neither was letting the chauffer touch his shit and take it up to the condo.

Sephiroth followed behind moodily. It was cold, not that the cold could really do anything to him. The leather coat was enough to deter any problems he might have with any weather, but that didn't mean he was _comfortable_.

Cloud squealed with joy as they stood in line to enter the petting zoo behind gaggles of screaming children and their harried parents. Sephiroth sympathized with the parents as Cloud clutched his hand tighter and bounced up and down. Sephiroth shook his hand out of the blond's grasp and crossed his arms over his chest. Cloud pouted for a moment before practically climbing the fences to see the animals. The general sighed and pulled Cloud down before he could topple over the top. That was the last thing he needed, for Cloud to be killed by stampeding _reindeer_ of all fucking things.

When finally allowed into the enclosure, Cloud cooed and squawked and made all manner of noises that reminded Sephiroth of a cat yorking up a hairball. He followed behind as the blond went from one large, slobbering beast to the next and offering them handfuls of hay or oats. Then the little shit had the _audacity_ to wipe his drool covered hand on _Sephiroth's_ coat before moving on to the other animals.

Sephiroth fumed as he watched Cloud chase around snow geese, and then hold a lemming that one of the animal caregiver's gave to him. He was most surprised when, while staring gloomily into the distance, he found his arms full of fluffy…something. After juggling the squirming fluff for a moment, he recognized it as a snow-shoe hare of all things. He glared at Cloud, who smiled sweetly right back before moving on to the next animal.

The warrior stared down at the rabbit in his arms in disbelief. He didn't come here to pet _bunnies_. He came here to kill terrorists. This was unbelievable, and he was _so_ going to beat the crap out of Rufus when they got back to Midgar.

Unbeknownst to Sephiroth, Cloud was smiling smugly as he watched the silver haired man start petting the soft rabbit while glaring at nothing in particular.

********************

The condo was as swank as Sephiroth had expected it to be. It was rustic in a way that rich people did rustic. It pretended at being a cabin without really being a cabin. Sephiroth had stayed in real cabins before, and most of them didn't have running water or five star kitchens. Or private sauna's or Jacuzzi's for that matter.

Thankfully, there were five bedrooms to pick from. Cloud, of course, took the master bedroom while Sephiroth took one of the smaller rooms as far away from Cloud as he could get. Pleased that he finally had the ability to arrange his space, Sephiroth set to work unpacking his duffle. With a minimum of effort everything was in its place in short order. Sephiroth sighed when he was done, wondering what he was going to do next.

His dilemma was solved by Cloud bouncing into his room and flopping down on his bed. "Take me to dinner," Cloud demanded.

"It's only four in the afternoon," Sephiroth said as he tried to remove the disturbance from his room. "And we just got done with a very, very long plane ride-"

"Which I slept through."

"And I'm tired and need to set up for the mission."

Getting a hold on Cloud was like trying to contain liquid mercury and the blond continuously slipped out of his hands. "Don't care," Cloud grunted as he rolled to the opposite side of the bed. "I'm hungry _now_."

"Then go make yourself something," Sephiroth snapped as he reached across the bed to snatch Cloud's arm.

Wriggling out of the warrior's grip, Cloud rolled to the foot of the bed and propped his head in his hands. "I want to go somewhere nice." He looked Sephiroth up and down with thinly veiled disgust. "You _do_ have something nice to wear, don't you?"

Cheeks pinking slightly, Sephiroth went to push Cloud off the bed, only to have the blond roll underneath him and end up against the headboard.

"I'm not going out with you."

"If I go out, you have to, too. Rufus said so," Cloud said imperiously.

Sephiroth growled and gave up. It would be easier to just give in and go. "Fine," he bit out. "I'll be ready to go in a few minutes."

Cloud hummed happily and finally vacated Sephiroth's room. He slammed the door after the blond and sat on the bed with his head in his hands. He really, really shouldn't have drunk so much. His head was pounding.

Sighing dejectedly, Sephiroth stood up and went to the slender hanging bag in the closet. The suit was slightly wrinkled from being balled up inside his duffle, but it was serviceable enough. He quickly ironed out the worst of the creases and donned the pants and shirt. He neglected to button it up the whole way, or even tuck it in before pulling on the coat. Snorting, he called it good enough. Like anyone would turn him away from any restaurant, regardless of what he looked like. Besides, he hated anything being buttoned up to his neck. It made him feel like he was choking.

Sephiroth looked at himself in the mirror and sighed. He looked pissed, tired, and…not happy. He went to the small, attached bathroom and splashed some water on his face, hoping to make himself look a little more awake. He dried his face off and contemplated himself again. Picking up the brush he had placed neatly on the vanity, he ran it through his hair a few times, even though the silver mass rarely tangled.

Feeling as ready as he'd ever be, Sephiroth went to the living room and rolled his eyes at the décor. Really, whose bright idea was it to put a saddle on a sawhorse behind the couch? What was that supposed to be?

Cloud appeared a few moments later, looking sharp and rather hip in a closely cut suit minus the tie. Like Sephiroth, he didn't tuck in his shirt or button it all the way, but the silver haired man couldn't help but think that Cloud made it look snazzy, while he just looked unkempt.

Feeling upstaged and already more than tired of this shit, Sephiroth stalked to the door and opened it. Cloud pulled on a coat that looked like it had been meant for a woman to wear (a Kelly coat or something like that…), but the blond pulled it off rather well. The limo was waiting as they came out of the lobby, and Sephiroth was minutely grateful that Cloud had remembered to call the driver before they left the condo.

They didn't say anything to each other as the car took them to the classy downtown district, and Sephiroth didn't ask where they were going. It wouldn't do any good anyway, Cloud would just pitch a fit until they went to the place he'd originally picked out.

They pulled in front of a bevy of valets that opened their doors and hustled them inside what Sephiroth assumed was one of the fashionable restaurants of the moment. He sulked inside and glared at the hostess who asked him for his coat. What, his invisible coat? Was the woman blind?

"What's with the nasty face, bunnykins?" Cloud said sweetly as he hung off of Sephiroth's arm. The general blinked in incredulity at the clinging limpet and tried to shake him off with no success.

"Get off of me," Sephiroth growled as the hostess escorted them to a table.

"Aw, is pooky-wooky upset?"

"Stop calling me those awful names."

"You're the one who told me to call you whatever I wanted."

Sephiroth hung his head in defeat and let himself be lead to the semi-private booth in the back. Cloud eagerly picked up the wine list and started perusing it before they even sat down. The moment the waiter showed his face, Cloud pointed to two different bottles on the list as well as ordering, of all things, a Pepsi, and happily dug into the menu.

The silver haired man felt like he was living in a haze since boarding that stupid plane. And…was this a _date_? It felt like a date. I looked like a date. Cloud looked like very dateable material. He sat cock-eyed in his seat with one of his legs tucked underneath him and the other dangling off the side. He looked…adorable.

And it looked like Cloud was trying to get him liquored up. A glass of wine was sitting in front of him and he gulped it down. It wasn't like he could get well and truly drunk anymore. He had once, during his first tour of Wutai. Angeal and Genesis had introduced him to the wonders of vodka, gin, whiskey, and every other alcoholic beverage they could get their hands on. It had made the carnage a little bit easier to bear. As he grew older liquor didn't have the effect it used to, but…

He poured himself another. It didn't hurt to be less than sober.

He'd only just picked up the menu when the waiter came back, and before Sephiroth could open his mouth Cloud had ordered for them and the waiter was gone.

"I don't even know what you ordered for me. It better not suck."

"I've been here before, so I know what's good," Cloud said, sipping his wine and then chugging it down. "I make Rufus bring me here whenever he's here for work."

"You go a lot of places with him?" Sephiroth asked, not really caring but wanting to get Cloud talking so he wouldn't have to.

"I go wherever he wants me to," Cloud shrugged. "It's kind of what I do."

"You're a toy," Sephiroth said degradingly. He poured himself another glass of wine, and pondered ordering something stronger.

"So what?"

Sephiroth finally actually _looked_ at Cloud for the first time since they left the condo. His breath almost hitched at the beauty before him and he turned back to his drink before he could say or do something stupid. He knew Cloud was hot, that was one of the main reasons Rufus kept him around. However, he'd never felt himself attracted to the kitschy mess that was Cloud Strife until that incident in the training room.

And now…it only got worse with every flippant comment from that shapely mouth.

"You don't mind being treated like a _thing_?"

"I'd rather have Rufus treat me like a thing than some random john off the street. Rufus pays better."

Sephiroth looked askance at his dinner partner. "Are you fucking serious?"

"Serious as a heart attack." Their salads came, and Cloud picked at his with his fingers. "Do you have any idea what someone like me has to look forward to on the streets?"

Sephiroth picked up his silverware and started in on his own salad but hardly tasted it. Cloud had his whole attention as he put little pieces of food in his mouth and then licked his fingers. "You don't know how to use a fork?"

Cloud shrugged and took another bite. "It tastes better this way. That, and it gets people hard." He looked at Sephiroth with hooded eyes as the silver haired man guffawed with laughter.

"You're such a slut."

Cloud smiled and licked his fingers. "It's what I'm good at."

"And why is that?"

The blond sighed and propped his chin on one hand while he picked at his salad with the other. "Do you really want me to answer that question? Really?"

Sephiroth finished his own food off and sat his fork down. Did they really count two bites of food a salad? He'd probably leave here hungry with a need for a drive by at the local taco stand. "Why not? Tell me."

Cloud sighed. "Do you know where I'm from?"

"Not a fucking clue."

"Little backwater in the middle of nowhere. Nibelheim. I was the bastard child of the town whore."

"Wow," Sephiroth said. "You don't tone it down at all, do you?"

"What would be the point?"

Sephiroth waved at Cloud to continue and poured himself another glass of wine. He didn't remember finishing his last glass, but it wasn't like it mattered.

The blond continued after he took his own gulp of wine. "In a town with an enormous population of two hundred, a family like mine doesn't stand much of a chance. My mom had no respect, and neither did I. I was fifteen when I took up the family business."

"Holy fuck," Sephiroth swore. "You were whoring around at fifteen?"

Cloud gave Sephiroth a look. "Will you quit interrupting me? Fuck." He emptied his glass and stared at the empty wineglass sadly. He grasped the second bottle and poured before continuing. "Anyway, my mom wasn't doing well. She was always sick and I had to do what I could to help out. And…well, it wasn't like anybody was going to take the town whore's bastard child as an apprentice or anything. So…there you go. Mom died when I was sixteen," Cloud's face flashed with a deep sorrow that was quickly banished behind a drink from his glass. "I just…couldn't stay there anymore. I hitched a ride with a trucker, going wherever."

"Sounds like you should have ended up a dead rape victim floating in a ditch somewhere."

"Didn't I tell you to shut the fuck up?"

Sephiroth laughed and moved his arms out of the way as his food was sat in front of him. And thank the Goddess it was a steak. It was hard to fuck up steak.

Cloud had some kind of sushi. Great. More finger food.

"I eventually ended up in Midgar," Cloud continued. "It was…hard."

"You were sixteen and just lost your mother. How could it have possibly been easy?"

The blond sighed, blowing some wayward spikes out of his face. "Don't I fucking know it? Anyway, I worked the streets for awhile before I ended up in a bordello. It was…bad. So fucking bad. But, I got lucky. I got assigned to a job. I never had a fucking clue who the johns were, and I really didn't care. I got sent to some swank-ass hotel and the john turned out to be Rufus. I charged him way more than the going rate." Cloud smiled. "He bought me outright from the bordello, and I've been with him ever since. Guess he was impressed with my…skills."

Sephiroth polished off his steak in the time it took Cloud to eat all of two of his sushi rolls. "Is everyone impressed with your…skills?" Sephiroth asked as he shoved mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"I suppose. I haven't really been with anyone since I've been with Rufus. He seems impressed enough to keep me around, and I'm assuming with his money he could have anybody he wanted."

"Do you give good head, or what?"

Cloud leaned forward, practically crawling over to table to be face-to-face with a very confused Sephiroth. The blond came so close, Sephiroth could smell the soy sauce and wasabi from his meal. The taller man's breath hitched as he felt the soft skin of Cloud's cheek against his own. "Wouldn't you like to know," Cloud breathed. He pulled back just enough to lick delicately at the edge Sephiroth's lip. "By the way, you missed a little. All better now."

The blond slithered back onto his side of the booth and smirked at the stunned man.

Sephiroth shook his head and huffed. "Damn. You _are_ good."

Cloud laughed. "Finish your food."

TBC…


	3. Chapter 2

Characters: Cloud, Sephiroth, Rufus

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Sexual themes, language

Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or its characters. I do not make any money from this fiction.

Summary: Act like you want it, and you just might get it.

It was late. Late even for Sephiroth, who typically only slept four hours a night. Cloud had finally managed to get drunk, and he laughed in a distracted, sloshed kind of way from his sprawl on the living room couch.

"You're pretty funny once I'm trashed," Cloud said, eyeing his empty tumbler. "Damn," the blond said as he let the glass fall to the floor and roll under the coffee table. "I'm going to bed…as soon as I can stand." Cloud laughed again and rolled off the couch and onto the floor where he looked at Sephiroth with a cocky smile.

The older man knocked back the last of his glass, and if he didn't know any better he'd believe that he was drunk as well. It was as close as he'd gotten in a long time, anyway. He regarded the giggling blond on the floor for a moment before asking, "Aren't you afraid?"

"Of what?"

Sephiroth waved his hand. "The death threats?"

"Should I be?"

"People are usually scared when their lives are in danger."

Cloud giggled again and flopped onto his stomach to crawl over to the silver haired man. He managed to sit up and lean against Sephiroth's legs. "I've been a hooker in under-plate Midgar. Not a lot scares me anymore."

Sephiroth snorted. "Guess not. You're not afraid of me."

"Why would I be afraid of my lovey-pooky-kins?"

"I wish you would stop that."

"But you're cute when you're annoyed."

"I am anything but _cute_."

"You are _so_ cute. Truly."

"Couldn't you use something a little more manly? Like…handsome. Or…dashing."

"I could call you a hot piece of man-meat."

"Don't. Really. That's…disgusting."

Cloud walked his fingers up Sephiroth's calf, making the bigger man shiver a little in his alcohol induced haze. "So, what do you do for fun, Mister General Sir? Or do you just drink your free time away?"

Sephiroth grabbed Cloud's wandering hand before it could migrate to more…_interesting_ places. "I don't have a whole lot of free time."

"Don't have a paramour you spend hot, sweaty nights with?"

"Nosey, much?"

"Just curious," Cloud said as he brought his hands back down to Sephiroth's feet and started to massage them.

The general just bit back a groan as Cloud hit all the good spots and worked out any remaining tension the liquor couldn't abolish. "You're good at that."

"Rufus sent me to some kind of massage school. I'd better be good at it."

"He fucking sent you to _massage_ school?"

Cloud shrugged and worked at the arch, making Sephiroth clutch the arms of his chair to keep from moaning. "He wants what he wants. I just give it to him."

"Hmph," Sephiroth grunted and shivered as Cloud worked his way to strong ankles.

"So," Cloud asked, unrelenting. "Do you have a fuck buddy or not?"

"Not for a long time," Sephiroth admitted and closed his eyes as he started to relax.

"Why not?"

"I'm tired of being a notch in a belt," the bigger man said sourly.

Cloud paused at that, then continued his massage. "Are you done with me, or can you help me get to bed. I don't think I can walk by myself."

Sephiroth opened his eyes and glared at Cloud, but it lacked any true malice. "I never asked you for a massage in the first place."

"But you liked it, didn't you?"

Grudgingly, Sephiroth nodded and stood. He helped the very inebriated Cloud to his bedroom and dropped him on the huge, king sized bed.

"Will you stay with me tonight?" Cloud asked, quiet and sincere.

Sephiroth didn't know what to say to that, so he just stared.

"Oh, come on," Cloud giggled, back to being a happy drunk. "I'm not asking you to fuck me. It's just…lonely."

Sephiroth considered the prospect of going back to his own room as compared to staying here. The bed looked quite comfortable, and the blond looked like nothing more than a adorable stuffed animal…

Before he could think about it any farther, Sephiroth shucked off his shirt and crawled into bed. Cloud drunkenly unbuttoned his own shirt with none of the delicate expertise he had just exhibited with those long-fingered hands on Sephiroth's body. He got about halfway before giving up and just crawling over to flop on top of Sephiroth.

As a child, Sephiroth had never had the comfort of a stuffed animal, of having something warm and soft and comforting to chase away the fears or cold. He couldn't really compare the feeling of holding close a cheesy, fake moogle to holding Cloud, but Sephiroth was sure that holding Cloud was infinitely better. Not that he had meant to hold Cloud, but the blond had just…kind of…_fallen_ on him. He couldn't just push the annoying little monster away, as he was sure that Cloud would immediately start in with the drunken bitching.

And really, he just wanted to go to sleep. A bitching Cloud would just make that harder.

And he wasn't going to think about how nice it was to bury his nose in Cloud's soft, soft blond hair and wrap his arms around the warm, malleable body.

*********************

"I want pancakes."

"Then make some."

"I don't cook."

"Neither do I, so stop bitching at me."

Cloud pouted and buried his head in his hands. "I want hangover foooood."

"Your whining isn't making my headache any better," Sephiroth grunted as he downed a large glass of water.

"Burritos!"

Sephiroth turned to regard the blond that had rolled himself into a miserable ball on the couch. "Burritos?"

"The best hangover food _ever_."

"I think we should stick to pancakes or I'll vomit."

"Let's order in." Cloud uncurled to reach around and open the drawer in the side-table next to the couch. He pulled out a phone book and started rifling through it. "What do you want, IHOP or Denny's?"

"Neither of those deliver," Sephiroth said with obvious distain.

"Anyone delivers for the right tip," Cloud said haughtily. "Now tell me what you want."

"Whatever."

"Breakfast burritos it is."

"Didn't I tell you no fucking burritos?" Sephiroth griped.

Cloud laughed loudly, then gripped his head and moaned. "Shit, I need to be quieter."

Sephiroth smiled. "Want me to play some death metal? OR I CAN JUST BE REALLY LOUD!" he screamed in his best parade ground voice, which he immediately regretted and swore under his breath and held his head in his hands.

Cloud clutched his hands over his ears and clenched his eyes shut. "You're an _asshole_," Cloud groaned.

Sephiroth managed to laugh through his pain. "Order the fucking pancakes."

"Fuck you. I'm getting burritos."

"Do it, and I'll be loud and obnoxious all morning."

Cloud glared before flipping open his phone and dialing furiously. He put the device to his ear, still glaring at Sephiroth. "Hey," he said never taking his eyes from the silver haired man smirking evilly at him. "I need an order for delivery…I know you don't deliver, but I promise I can make it worth your time…"

Sephiroth chuckled at the furious little blond as Cloud not only placed his order but convinced the person on the other line to deliver in under twenty minutes. And he got the fucking pancakes.

"So…what are you supposed to do while we're here?" Cloud asked, as he flipped his phone closed. "Chase down the boogie men?"

"Tseng hoped that moving you would draw the kidnappers into the open and make them do something stupid. Expose themselves. Whatever."

"And then you go all badass on them."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "In your terms, I guess so."

"Glad to know you're all over it," Cloud drawled. "I guess getting wasted last night was part your plan, right?"

"I wasn't wasted," Sephiroth argued. "I can't _get_ wasted."

Cloud's eyes hooded and he smiled like he had a secret. "If you weren't wasted, then why were you _snuggling_ with me last night?"

"I wasn't fucking _snuggling_."

"It sure felt like snuggling. You were stroking my back."

Sephiroth blushed. He'd never admit to it, and he turned away so Cloud wouldn't see the heat to his cheeks. "You were beyond wasted, if I remember right. You were probably seeing pink elephants rub your back."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself," Cloud shrugged. "I still don't see how the drinking-"

"Listen," Sephiroth cut in rudely, "Even if I _could_ get drunk, I'd _still_ be able to take down anything and everything that came at me."

"Fine," Cloud said. "I just hope I don't end up floating in a ditch somewhere," he sniped in an echo of Sephiroth's words from the day before.

************************

"I don't understand why we have to do this," Sephiroth said as he followed Cloud through racks of clothing. He pulled a price tag out of the neck of a t-shirt and swore. "Five hundred fucking gil for a _t-shirt_? Who the hell buys this crap?"

Cloud came over and looked at the shirt for a moment before pulling it off the rack and holding it up to himself. "I'd look adorable in this!"

Sephiroth rolled his eyes and pulled the shirt out of Cloud's grasp. "You're not buying any of this shit while I'm here to see it. It makes me ill."

Cloud's face crunched in a severe pout. "You're ruining my retail therapy."

"You're wasting my time and Rufus' gil on shit you don't need."

"That's my prerogative and your task to suffer," Cloud said bossily before swiping the shirt back and continuing through the clothes racks.

"You know you could feed dozens of starving children with that gil," Sephiroth said as he followed the bobbing blond head through rows of brightly colored and vibrantly ugly club-wear.

"No. I'm more the safe houses for sexual assault victims type." Cloud raised an eyebrow at the mild surprise on Sephiroth's face. "Don't believe me?"

The silver haired man snorted. "You spend more gil on _haircuts_ in a month than under-plate families spend on food in a year. I doubt you're some kind of patron of underprivileged whores and beaten wives."

Cloud rustled through a rack of leather jackets and frowned at the lack of selection. "After everything I've been through, I figure I'm _owed_ something. That, and I feel like I'm responsible for helping people that weren't lucky enough to find a rich sugar daddy."

"The universe _owes you_?"

"I deserve a little bit of happiness. And if a fucking hundred gil haircut makes me happy, then I'm going to get a fucking hundred gil haircut."

Sephiroth grasped Cloud's shoulder and spun him around to look him in the eye. "You have _sex_ for a living. Do you know how many guys would _love_ to have sex for a living? What does the universe owe _me_ for what _I've had to go through_?"

Cloud snarled and pulled away. "You have _no clue_ what I went through, what others go through in those fucking sex houses. The things that…" the blond shook his head and turned around. "You know what? I'm not getting in to this. I haven't talked about it since I left, and I'm not going to talk about it now. I'm not going to fight with you about how my life was worse than yours. There's no point. We come from totally different worlds, so there's no use in comparing."

"If you love your money so much, why would you give it away to others?" Sephiroth argued.

Cloud pulled a pair of pants off a table after rifling through to find his size. "I know what it's like to not have anywhere to go when your pimp won't fork over for an STD test or doctor's visits when a john's fucked you up." Cloud turned to glare at Sephiroth. "Now let me buy my fucking inane crap and shut the fuck up."

"Are you for real?" Sephiroth asked incredulously. "Do you expect me to believe that bullshit?"

Cloud turned and got right in Sephiroth's face…or chest mostly due to the height difference. "You can ask Rufus. You can go into the fucking slums and ask each and every one of those places how they are funded, and every fucking one will tell you it's me." The blond stared Sephiroth down for a few moments before turning around and heading to the dressing rooms with armful of clothes in tow.

Sephiroth just stood in place, unable to rationalize the Cloud he knew and the Cloud he just spoke to. It didn't make sense, any of it. Cloud was a blond idiot who devoured Rufus' money and lived with his head in very expensive clouds. Cloud was _not_ a benevolent benefactor of beaten women and neglected whores.

Was he?

Why did that make him feel even more attracted to the blond than he already was?

The silver haired man walked slowly to the dressing rooms and sat on one of the uncomfortable leather sofas in front of the bank of doors. Off to the left the small gap in the bottom of a door showed little socked feet stepping out of pants and then into another pair. They squirmed around a bit as Cloud pulled the pants up. A little shuffling and a shirt joined the pants on the floor. More shuffling and Cloud reappeared. He raised an eyebrow at Sephiroth and sauntered over to the mirror.

"It…looks nice," Sephiroth said.

It was a verbal olive branch if Cloud had ever heard one. "Thanks," the blond said, feeling almost shy. _Almost_. "Does my ass look good in these?"

The silver haired man smirked a little. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you painted them on."

"You sound like you want it," Cloud said, wriggling his ass a little and looking over his shoulder.

"Any man with a single gay bone in his body would want to hit that," Sephiroth agreed with a laugh. "That doesn't mean I'm going to jump you."

"What if I want you to?"

"Tough luck."

Cloud laughed. "It sounds like _you're_ the one that's not getting lucky."

Sephiroth only shook his head, but the smiled stayed in place.

**********************

"Tacos or tacos?" Cloud asked as he steered them toward a small building with a guy dressed as a gigantic burrito dancing in front.

"I suppose tacos sound fine," Sephiroth said with mocking consideration.

The place was packed, and it wasn't long before they drew a huge lot of gawkers. Cloud seemed oblivious, but Sephiroth couldn't help but notice that no matter where Cloud was, he knew exactly where the cameras were, what angle they were at, and how to pose for maximum adorable picture taking. Sephiroth was doing his best to keep his face impassive and turned away from the idiots who were staring at them as if they were animals in a zoo.

_Cloud_ couldn't help but notice that Sephiroth was hovering almost protectively, blocking him from the cameras and staring onlookers. It was cute in a testosterone-laden, caveman kind of way. The blond had to smile as Sephiroth put an arm around him and drew him close. It was mostly unconscious on the general's part, and Cloud felt the soft, distracted stroke of a strong hand repeatedly down his arm. It gave him the shivers, having all that powerful hunk of man so close and being so gentle with him.

He'd never had a SOLDIER be gentle with him before.

But he wasn't going to think about that. Those days were over, the bordello far away, and he was in a better place now.

He had a sugar daddy that showered him with money in return for what Cloud perceived as very little in return. He could help those who he _used_ to be. Those that had no-one to care for them, no-one to fix them up mentally and physically when they were done with a rough night of work.

Cloud leaned in to the bigger body and enjoyed it while it lasted.

They finally made it through the line and ordered their food. It was while they were waiting that people actually started coming up and asking for autographs from Sephiroth and a few giggling teenage girls asked for Cloud's. That, and they kept asking if the two would kiss so they could take a picture.

Sephiroth was about to tell the girls to go shove their camera's somewhere unpleasant when Cloud practically climbed him like a tree and placed a large, wet kiss on his cheek.

The general could only imagine what those camera flashes caught as his eyes widened with incredulity and his jaw went slightly slack. He peeled the clinging little brat off of him and glared down at the smiling blond.

The girls were screaming and taking so many pictures it felt like being in the middle of the paparazzi.

"LEAVE," Sephiroth bellowed at the teens, scaring them into stillness for a moment before they fled. The outburst also made everyone else lose the star-struck look in their eyes and they dispersed back to their food or left completely.

"Why did you do that? You know those pictures are going to be posted all over the damned internet by tonight," Sephiroth demanded.

The blond shrugged nonchalantly and skipped up the counter to pick up their meal when their number was called. He lugged the heavy tray toward one of the recently vacated tables and plopped it down.

Sephiroth followed and sat down on the plastic bench and began furiously pulling his food off the tray when Cloud snuggled in beside him. He stopped what he was doing to raise an eyebrow at the interloper. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Just wanted to make sure you didn't feel neglected," Cloud said off-handedly and squeezed closer to Sephiroth.

"There's a bench on the other side of this table that's awfully lonely," Sephiroth said as Cloud started digging in to his smothered burrito.

Cloud smiled around his fork and chewed for a second before swallowing. Then, he leaned up and put another kiss on Sephiroth's cheek. "You're too cute," he said sweetly and started eating again.

"And you're annoying as fuck," grumbled the general. He didn't like the way Cloud's lips felt so soft and pliant against his skin, or the way the blond's warm breath caressed his ear as he pulled away.

It made him feel warm and happy inside. And Sephiroth distrusted _anything_ that made him feel happy.

It was usually ripped away faster than he could blink.

TBC…


	4. Chapter 3

Characters: Cloud, Sephiroth, Rufus

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Sexual themes, language

Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or its characters. I do not make any money from this fiction.

Summary: Act like you want it, and you just might get it.

"Have you seen any signs of the terrorists?" Tseng asked, his voice calm and quiet over the phone.

Sephiroth shook his head, even though he knew the Turk couldn't see it. "Nothing. Cloud and I were all over town today, and I didn't see anything. Either they're not here yet or they haven't taken the bait."

"If they didn't know where you were before, they'll know now. Hopefully they will be drawn to the surface soon. There are pictures of you and Cloud popping up all over the place. Cute, by the way."

Sephiroth grunted in forlorn acknowledgement. "I didn't intend it that way, but it seems to have worked in our interest." The silver haired man looked down at his lap, where Cloud's blond head was nestled. The little demon was sleeping peacefully after several hours of bad, C-grade movies that he seemed to delight in. Sephiroth liked the way Cloud's skin felt under his fingers as he ran them up and down the pale, exposed arm. Soft. Soft and warm and pliant.

"It seems so," Tseng agreed. "Keep your eyes open. I'll check in tomorrow. Good evening."

"Good evening," Sephiroth responded and flipped his phone closed.

Cloud stirred a little as the bigger man leaned over to put his phone on the side table next to the couch.

"What're you doin'?" Cloud asked in a sleepy mumble.

"Just checking in with the Turks."

"Have they heard anything new?" The blond sat up, but cuddled himself to Sephiroth's side and leaned his head against a broad shoulder.

Unable to help himself Sephiroth tilted his head until it rested on top of blond spikes. "Tseng didn't mention anything, so in Turk language that means nothing has changed."

"Mmmm," Cloud mumbled. The blond didn't think anything of turning his head to press a long, soft kiss to Sephiroth's throat.

The warrior didn't know what to do or how to respond. It wasn't like he was completely naïve to the workings of sex and seduction, but he'd never quite experienced anything like this. He'd only ever been with Angeal and Genesis, and both of them had been friends before they ended up in his bed. And even then, they were both more friend than lover.

He'd never been with anyone who…_it was so hard to think through the large amount of pleasure that small touch gave him_…Sephiroth had never truly felt attracted to anyone. Angeal and Genesis had been different. He had been attracted to them in the sense that they brought comfort and stabilization. But…it had been several months since his last fling with Angeal, and it had been…years?...since he had last been with Genesis for more than a quick, one-sided blowjob in a storage closet that left him weak-kneed as Genesis wiped his lips, kissed him goodbye, and high-tailed out to his next mission.

Cloud…Cloud was the first person Sephiroth held felt real attraction for. He didn't know what he wanted or how to respond. The blond was frustrating and maddening and everything Sephiroth despised in people: shallow, frivolous…and Cloud was everything he never thought he'd find. He was sweet, funny, and he made Sephiroth feel…_normal_. Fuck, what did he want?

_Cloud_ seemed to know what to do, even if Sephiroth didn't. He prolonged the kiss, moving his lips gently against the pulse in the long, pale neck.

"Cloud," Sephiroth whispered.

"Shhh," the blond hushed and kissed his way up to Sephiroth's ear. "Just enjoy it." His tongue slowly traced the curves and whorls of the silver haired man's ear. Sephiroth shivered the tiniest bit and Cloud traced the curve of the strong jaw with his tongue, then moved in for a kiss.

It was a different kind of kiss for both of them. Cloud had kissed more men than he cared to count. Sephiroth had very little experience in the matter. Neither of them knew how they felt as they caressed each other with lips and tongue. But it was good…so good. Sephiroth brought his hands up to tangle them in blond hair. By the Goddess Cloud was so amazing. Hot and supple and-

Sephiroth's fingers found a raised ridge on Cloud's scalp as he ran his hands through the soft hair. He traced it and stopped kissing the blond as he realized what his fingers had found.

"That's one hell of a scar," Sephiroth panted, following the puckered flesh from the hairline of the smooth neck up to the top of his head.

Cloud pecked Sephiroth's lips a couple of times and smiled. "My life hasn't been easy, remember?" he whispered. With a smile that Sephiroth had to classify as sad, the smaller man stood up and took off his shirt.

Sephiroth was about to ask Cloud what he was doing when the blond turned around. "Shiva's tits," the general swore, gazing in wide-eyed amazement at the body before him.

Scars. Bad ones. Scars that meant deep wounds, long untreated and probably infected before they healed over. They crisscrossed back and forth across the pale skin of Cloud's back.

"Damaged goods," Cloud whispered, looking over his shoulder at the stunned man. "There were more on my thighs and ass, but Rufus is paying for the plastic surgery to remove them. Haven't gotten to my back yet."

Sephiroth stood, coming up behind the smaller man and putting his hands on small but strong shoulders. "These are whip lashes."

"Some guys…will pay a lot of money to do certain things."

Sephiroth felt sick as he used one hand to trace the scars that ran from shoulder to lower back. "You…they mutilated you."

Cloud turned around and leaned into the bigger man. "You have no idea what they did to me in that place."

No, he didn't, and he was just beginning realize how much he was missing. "Can you…tell me about it?"

"It's kind of a mood killer."

"I think the mood is already ruined."

Cloud turned his head to rest it against Sephiroth's chest. "Sorry. Things were going so well…" he had been so close to finding out just how many inches of all that SOLDIER pride he could take.

"I would have stopped you anyway, once I saw…" Sephiroth held the smaller boy close and hesitantly touched the rough skin of Cloud's back.

The blond touched Sephiroth's arm, fingers curling around the strong bicep. "Let's go lay down, and I'll…tell you what I can."

The taller man tilted Cloud's head back and kissed him. It was full of understanding, which had Cloud somewhat confused.

"I know what it's like," Sephiroth said, lips caressing Cloud's cheek, "to be treated like a thing."

Cloud clutched harder at the bigger man, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. This…whole thing wasn't supposed to be like this. It was a job. Fuck man A. Receive money amount X. That was how things worked. He'd never felt attached to any of his jobs before. Not even Rufus, except in a grateful, almost friendship kind of way.

Sephiroth was making him feel…

Cloud leaned up, asking for another kiss and Sephiroth granted his wish. They pulled apart and somehow made it to the bedroom. They kissed and touched gently as they lay down on the bed.

The blond cuddled up close to the big, warm body that made him feel truly safe for the first time in his life.

"I don't know how much you want to hear," Cloud said, resting his head on Sephiroth's chest.

"I just…want to know what makes you who you are. I've never met anyone that hasn't looked at me with some form of fear. They see a monster. You look at me and you see…"

"I see a man," Cloud said. He ran his hand over Sephiroth's stomach, feeling the hard abdominals under the shirt.

"Exactly."

"Do you still see me as a whore?" Cloud asked, thinking back to the plane ride.

"I never really did. I just…I didn't _want_ to see you as anything else, I guess."

"But now you think I'm fucking _adorable_," Cloud smiled.

Sephiroth laughed and pulled the blond closer. "You're growing on me, I have to admit," he teased.

Cloud sighed happily and kissed the chest under his head. "I can't see you as a monster," the blond began, "because I've seen what real monsters men can be." He settled himself solidly against Sephiroth and closed his eyes. "I started out on the streets. It was rough work, but I made enough to keep myself fed and my pockets full of condoms. I got kind of popular, started taking business from the regulars about town. One of the big whorehouses heard of me and offered me a job. Might as well take in the whore stealing your business than fight against him, right? I took the job. How could I have turned it down? A room, food, a little more safety. They started me out with the regulars, but then they realized that I was a greedy little bastard and was willing to do more for some more money." Cloud shuddered a little. "I started getting different jobs, guys with kinks. They were simple at first: a little bondage, a little spanking. Nothing I wasn't willing to deal with for a little extra cash. Then they started getting more violent. Started beating the crap out of me. I complained, so they did what they saw as a favor."

Cloud paused for long enough that Sephiroth hugged him close and rubbed his back comfortingly.

"What kind of favor?"

"They called it Mission," Cloud started again. "It was the whores that serviced SOLDIERs. Most of them died from mako-poisoning. There was a high rate of turn over, but the ones who lived had a higher tolerance for pain, could heal from beatings better, whatever. They were fucked up on mako, like some kind of fucked division of SOLDIER or something."

Sephiroth frowned severely. "Didn't they make them wear condoms?"

Cloud hid his face in Sephiroth's chest. "They paid what it took so they could do whatever they wanted. These guys…these SOLDIERs…they were…"

"Who was it?" Sephiroth growled. He knew everyone in the program. Most of them as friends. "I'll-"

"Don't," Cloud said softly. "I don't need you to rampage through your SOLDIERs trying to find out who did what to me. I don't know their names anyway…"

"But you would know what they looked like."

"Yes. I would. But it's over, and it's not like what they did wasn't legal."

"But it _wasn't_."

"Seph," Cloud said softly. "I was above the age of consent. I let them do it. I didn't say no. It was my job, my life. It was either that, or die on the streets. I thought it better to die in a bed."

"I'm sorry," Sephiroth breathed.

Cloud shrugged. "It's nothing you could have known about or done anything for. Some of them just wanted sex. Straight vanilla. I got…really sick after the first couple of times…mako poisoning. But, they just kept coming. Two or three SOLDIERs a night. For almost a year I was in a near coma from the mako, but nobody really cared. I was just a body that didn't complain when they did…things. I didn't snap out of it until one of my friends was beaten to death in the same room as me. Some guy wacked out after his first mako injection. I hid under the bed until he left. When I got up, I tried to run but I got a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and I couldn't believe what I saw. My eyes were glowing."

Sephiroth sat up and pulled Cloud up with him. He looked puzzled as he studied Cloud's face. "I don't see…"

Cloud got up with a kiss to Sephiroth's forehead. He went to the vanity next to the door to the bathroom and pulled a small container out of a bag. Then he leaned into the mirror and touched his eyes to pull out…contacts. He dropped them in, one at a time, and then pulled a bottle out of the bag and filled the container before fishing out the top and screwing it on.

When the blond turned back to Sephiroth, he could see the glow. The glow of a SOLDIER. Those blue eyes that Sephiroth had been so drawn to were still blue, but now they were an ethereal blue that made his heart flutter.

"Gaia," the general whispered. "The amount of mako it takes to cause that…"

"Is astronomical, I know. It's enough to make someone at least a Second Class." Cloud came back to the bed and sat down next to the bigger man.

A strong, sword calloused hand reached up to cup a small, triangular face. The beautiful face was tilted upward so Sephiroth could look at those blue eyes. "You are…"

"Broken?" Cloud asked with a sad smile.

"No. Beautiful," Sephiroth breathed.

Cloud leaned in to the hand cupping his face. "You don't think that I'm an annoying, blond bimbo fag?" he asked with a smirk.

"That hasn't changed. I guess I just decided that I…like annoying, blond bimbo fags."

The blond laughed. "I guess _I_ decided that I like prickly, asshole generals."

The smile left Sephiroth's face. "What about Rufus?"

Cloud huffed a little laugh. "Rufus is…a benefactor. A friend."

"Aren't you two…"

"Fucking?" Cloud asked and Sephiroth nodded. "Of course we're fucking. That's why he keeps me around. That, and he thinks I'm cute while I'm stroking his ego."

"But…you're not _together_."

Cloud shrugged. "Not in the way you think we are."

"Would he give you up?"

Cloud looked at Sephiroth askance. "What do you mean?"

Sephiroth scooted closer and lifted Cloud into his lap. "I mean that," he kissed a perfect smooth cheek, "I don't think I could share what's mine."

"Oh," Cloud breathed. "I…I don't know…what to say to that."

"I don't want to let go of someone that makes me feel human."

Cloud kissed Sephiroth in a lingering, completely accepting kind of way. "Let me process, alright? There's a big difference between fucking someone and…being with someone."

"I know," Sephiroth responded. He pulled Cloud flush with his chest, supple legs spread out over the general's strong thighs. "I never thought I'd find someone that makes me feel like this. I feel like just…a normal guy with a pissy ass, high-maintenance boyfriend."

Cloud smiled and settled heavily into Sephiroth's lap. "I don't know if you can afford me," the blond teased.

Sephiroth ran his hands up and down Cloud's scarred back, feeling the rough texture underneath his palms. "I don't know if I deserve you."

Cloud almost flinched when those strong fingers traced down one of the reddened, raised welts. "I can put my shirt back on if they bother you," he murmured.

"I've seen much worse than this," Sephiroth said. "Do they bother _you_?"

"Sometimes they remind me of things I'd rather forget."

"How…how did this happen?" Gentle fingers brushed over the scars that wrapped around Cloud's narrow sides to almost reach his stomach.

Cloud leaned so his head rested on Sephiroth's shoulder, face buried in a strong neck. "A SOLDIER. He liked to play games. Unfortunately, he started asking for me after I came out of my…haze. I had to…live through it. He liked to hit me with bamboo canes, sometimes bullwhips. He also liked me because I'd heal, and he could go on and on and on…" Cloud shuddered and sighed when Sephiroth wrapped his arms around him protectively. "He was the worst out of all of them. Except…"

"Except?"

Cloud pulled away and looked seriously at the silver haired man. "Promise me again you won't go looking for these people. It's better for them to do it to the willing, than to harm the innocent."

Sephiroth flushed. He'd been thinking about it. "I…don't like it. I want to know which of my SOLDIERs are sick fucks doing these things…but I promise."

Cloud nodded and kissed Sephiroth's lips. "The other one, he was very…I didn't know what to think about him. He was the only one who asked for _me_ to fuck _him_. He asked _me_ to hurt _him_. He cried, asked me to stop." Cloud sighed. "I know broken when I see it, and this guy…he'd been raped. I know it. And he just kept…re-enacting it with me. It was a whole new level of fucked up. He didn't hurt me physically, but he sure did fuck up my head."

"One of my SOLDIERs?" Sephiroth whispered. "One of mine…hurt like that? Are you sure?"

"I know it when I see it, Seph," Cloud insisted. "I've seen enough…fuck, I've _been through_ enough to know what that does to you."

"Who was it?"

"Even if I knew his name, I wouldn't tell you." Cloud said, voice brooking no arguments. "If he hasn't told anyone, that's his prerogative."

Sephiroth's mind was reeling. Who could it have been? When? How?

"Stop," Cloud said gently. "You can't fix it by obsessing over it."

"How can I not? I haven't gotten any reports, not even a rumor…"

"He didn't want it known. The fact that he kept coming to me to relive it…he wasn't dealing with what happened. He had the house dress me up before he even got there. They put me in a Wutian army uniform, put a black wig on my head, colored contacts. Most of the time he even had me or someone else tie him up. I remember him being so beautiful…I hated it more than any beating or rough fuck I ever endured."

Sephiroth sighed, deeply disturbed. "I can't believe…"

"That you didn't know?" Cloud asked.

The general nodded.

Cloud put his hands in the mass of silver hair and tugged gently. "When people don't want you to know something, chances are you aren't going to know it. Would you have ever guessed at anything I just told you, had I not told it to you?"

The regal head shook, shifting the thick, silver strands in Cloud's hands. "Never would I have thought…"

"Also, as far as I understand it, you are kind of a social retard. You might have never even noticed any of the signs…"

Sephiroth flinched at the obvious stab to his abilities.

Cloud sighed. "I didn't mean to be…_mean_. It's just the truth. You can't help what you don't have any control over." He paused for a moment, simply touching and gently kissing Sephiroth's body. "I asked Rufus about you, after I met you in the training room."

Sephiroth smiled at that, tracing his lips down Cloud soft throat. "And what did he say?"

"First, he told me your name. He couldn't believe that I didn't know who you were. I guess I just never connected the name with the face. I asked him why you were so…off. He said that you were raised in the labs. I asked him what that meant, and he told me that was the whole answer." The blond touched Sephiroth's face, mako blue staring into mako green. "What did they do to you?"

Sephiroth snorted. "It would take me years to tell you."

"Well, since were all baring-our-souls and shit, get started. We don't have anywhere to be in the morning. Or the next day or the next."

"Only if you tell me more about yourself."

"Deal."

************************

The sun was rising, and two lean bodies were quietly curled together in a big, expensive bed. They'd spent what remained of the night talking, teasing each other, and slowly getting to second base. Sephiroth found Cloud's complete irreverence irritating, but it also made him feel a bit more…connected to reality. Cloud didn't let him gloss over anything, didn't let him sugar coat it, didn't let him leave out anything just to spare Cloud's 'tender sensibilities.' It was only as the first light of false dawn tinted the sky that Sephiroth had to stop for his _own_ mental state.

The little blond finally fell asleep, breathing softly against Sephiroth's now-bare chest.

Sephiroth realized that for the first time in years, he'd gone an entire night without drinking himself to sleep.

TBC…


	5. Chapter 4

Characters: Cloud, Sephiroth, Rufus

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Sexual themes, language

Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or its characters. I do not make any money from this fiction.

Summary: Act like you want it, and you just might get it.

The bank was crowded, and Sephiroth was going to strangle Cloud for waiting until 4:45 on a Friday evening before realizing he needed cash. The bank _couldn't_ have been opened on weekends like the ones in Midgar, could they? And the fucking ATMs were _all_ broken, and only three tellers were working.

Just his bloody, fucking luck.

It didn't help that Cloud was being insufferable since he was bored and taking it out on Sephiroth's psyche. And there was no way the general was going to admit that he found is somewhat cute in an annoying way.

"So, how many people have you had sex with?" Cloud asked, then pulled his gum out of his mouth in a long string before sticking it back in.

Sephiroth smacked Cloud's arm and glared at all the people in line who turned to stare at them. The gawkers turned around at the severe frown, but it was obvious they were still listening as no-one tried to restart their conversations.

"That's none of your fucking business," Sephiroth finally laughed at the little blond.

"So, either it's so many you can't count, or so few you'd feel like a tool if you said it out loud."

"What part of _it's none of your fucking business_ didn't you understand?" Sephiroth said, but the bite was eased with a small smile.

Cloud grinned before leaning into the general rather suggestively. "Oh, I don't know…" the blond said sultrily. "I guess I don't understand it at all. Why don't you educate me?" Cloud fiddled with the collar of Sephiroth's coat and slid one of legs between long, strong thighs. "I have a school-girl outfit and a ruler and I could call you teacher…or professor if you want."

Sephiroth smiled, looking into Cloud's beautiful, bright blue eyes that held humor and warmth and what the general hoped was the slightest bit of something more. He was about to tell Cloud off when the loud, ringing roar of a gun being fired made him pause in surprise.

Sephiroth was _never_ surprised. Not by something like…like…

His head snapped around, searching for-there. A man standing in the doorway, handgun still raised. The shooter's face was covered in a ski mask, but Sephiroth could see the stretching of the fabric as the man smiled before bolting out of the doorway.

"Seph…" Cloud gasped weakly.

The silver haired man looked down at the blond standing in front of him. Cloud stared at the general with eyes wide as people started screaming and either trying to flee or falling to the floor. The blond blinked once, very slowly, before his eyes closed and he fell forward. Sephiroth caught the small body and lowered it to the floor.

Sephiroth's breath caught as he realized his hands were warm and wet, the front of his coat was sprayed with scarlet, and the floor beneath Cloud was stained with a pool of red that was slowly spreading.

Oh, Gaia. He needed to chase after the bastard with the gun but…

Cloud's breathing stuttered before stopping altogether.

Sephiroth's brain fizzled to a halt before starting up again double time. Materia. He had materia. He _always_ had materia.

The green flash hadn't even faded away before Cloud took a deep, rasping breath and Sephiroth bolted out of the bank and down the street.

It didn't matter how fast the bastard ran or how far out of sight he was. Sephiroth was faster, and the asshole smelled of gun-smoke.

It wouldn't take him long to find him.

*********************

"There's only the one victim, and everyone else seems to be ok. There was no attempt at a robbery, and no-one can tell me what the shooter looked like-" the policeman was interrupted by a body falling at his feet.

Sephiroth stood silently, staring at the police coolly. He looked like the grim reaper after a particularly fruitful day.

"Gen-gen-general Sephiroth, sir," the officer nodded in greeting. "What can we-"

"This man is the shooter," Sephiroth said as he violently kicked the man's side. The suspect groaned and rolled over but stayed unconscious. "I was here when it happened. I chased him down and notified the Turks. The unit stationed here should arrive shortly to collect him."

"T-Turks?" the officer stuttered. "W-why would the Turks need to be involved?"

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "I don't believe any of you have the kind of clearance needed to hear the answer to that question. Keep the suspect contained until they get here."

A nod. "Yes, sir. No problem, sir." The nervous officer leaned down and cuffed the comatose man although it was hardly necessary.

"Where is Cloud?" Sephiroth asked.

"Cloud?"

"The blond. He was injured, shot."

"Oh!" the policeman said, shaking his head. "He was taken by ambulance to the hospital."

Sephiroth frowned. "I Healed him before I left. He should be fine."

It was obvious the officer didn't want to piss off the general, who looked like he was ready and willing to kill anything at the moment. However, he figured the truth would be best so said, "The healing job wasn't thorough. I'm sorry sir, but the boy started to bleed out again. Luckily, there was a nurse and an EMT here that managed to stabilize him enough so he survived until the ambulance got here. By the time the ambulance arrived, he was in cardiac arrest. I don't know if he lived…they haven't called us from the hospital yet."

If Sephiroth's face wasn't already so pale, someone would have said he went white. As it was, the silver haired man felt the blood drain from his face, and he almost became dizzy.

What had he been thinking? It was a rule, an important one you learned early in SOLDIER training. Make sure the Heal worked before moving on. Only simple wounds could be healed by one hit with materia. He knew that. He _knew_ that.

He _knew_ that.

"Which hospital?" he asked, not recognizing his own voice.

"Mercy Central. It's only a few blocks from here."

"Where? Tell me where!" He was frantic and didn't know who cared.

The officer gave the directions as fast as his fearful stuttering would allow, and Sephiroth was off in a sudden sharp burst of speed.

_Cloud_.

*************************

Sephiroth stormed into the hospital, promising death and wrath and…he needed to see Cloud. Most of the nurses at the front desk of the emergency ward cringed at the scary man charging up to them.

"Cloud Strife. Where. Is. He?"

One of the nurses raised an eyebrow and continued her routine, hardly phased by the infamous Demon of Wutai breathing down her neck.

She'd been through worse.

"Are you family?" she asked, staring blandly.

"No, but-"

"I'm sorry, but family only."

"He _has no_ family."

"Sorry, hospital policy."

Sephiroth slammed his hand down on the counter, crushing the Formica with the force of his anger. "I don't give a flying fuck about hospital policy."

The nurse looked at the broken counter and reached out to pluck a sheet out from under Sephiroth's clenched fist. She shook the dust off and smoothed it slightly out before putting it in a stack. "I'm sorry you feel that way."

The enraged man swiped everything off the counter in one violent move and pointed an accusing finger at the woman. "I can make your life _very, very_ miserable until you tell me where he is."

"You're the General, right?" the nurse asked, rolling her eyes.

"What the fuck does-"

"I can tell you whatever you want if you give me military clearance. You're probably investigating the case, right?"

Sephiroth's breath caught, and he pulled his wallet out of the pocket of his coat. He quickly pulled his military id out and slammed it on the already dented counter.

"Let me see Cloud."

The nurse took the id and handed it to one of the trembling CNAs with an order to copy it. "I can tell you what's going on, but you can't see him right now. He's in surgery, and the last thing the surgeons need is to screw something up because you're making them anxious. You need to take a deep breath and sit down," she pointed toward the waiting area, which was largely uninhabited. The few people scattered on the worn, plastic chairs were staring at Sephiroth with eyes full of both fear and awe. It was _The Silver General_. How could they _not_ be in awe?

"I _need_ to _see him_," Sephiroth said, voice wavering much more than he had hoped for.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," the nurse said, true regret in her voice. "But I'm sure the last thing you want is for the surgery to go wrong. I can give you a quiet place to wait, if that helps."

Sephiroth surveyed at the gawking civilians and nodded.

"This way, then," the woman gestured.

The silver haired man followed as she came around the counter and walked down a short hallway to an empty exam room. "You're lucky," she said. "We're slow tonight. You can stay here, and I'll bring you any news I get."

"Is it going well? The surgery?"

The woman shrugged. "They haven't told me anything. No news is good news at this point. I'll bring your id back once I have some copies. Can I get you anything while you wait?"

"No, thank you."

The woman nodded and closed the door behind her as she left.

Sephiroth fell into the single chair in the room and buried his head in his hands. Everything hurt, like after a mako infusion. His whole body was screaming with an agony that was similar to, yet nothing like anything he'd ever felt. And it felt like something in his chest dropped twenty feet down and kept pulling, leaving an aching and excruciating void inside of him.

He'd _failed_.

Never in his life had he failed. He'd won every battle he'd ever fought, every spar, every fight, every _everything_.

But he'd failed in one stupid, simple mission.

All of Sephiroth's self recrimination stopped as his PHS rang. It took a few rings for Sephiroth to realize what the noise was, and another couple as he fumbled through his coat for the device.

"Sephiroth," he rumbled after he flipped the phone open.

"How hard was it, really?" came the smooth voice on the other line.

Sephiroth swallowed and clenched his eyes shut. Rufus.

"Was there…an army of Wutain ninjas? Several Bahamuts?"

"No."

"Then why," Rufus went on, voice starting to rise, "did I get a call from Mercy Central Hospital about a young, blond man by the name of Cloud Strife who was shot and had my number on his PHS as his emergency contact?"

"I don't know," Sephiroth said. He was closer to tears than he had ever been in his life.

"You _don't know_," Rufus snipped out. "You don't _fucking_ know?! I had to approve emergency surgery! I had to fork over my insurance! I had to sit here, thousands of miles away, as a doctor told me they might not be able to help him. How did you fuck this up?! How was this even possible?!"

"I was distracted."

"You were _distracted_," Rufus repeated in a deadly quiet voice.

"Rufus," Sephiroth said, voice rife with enough emotion that it made the executive pause. "I assure you that I _never, ever_ wanted anything to hurt Cloud."

"Then how could you have let this happen?"

Sephiroth squeezed his eyes shut and breathed a deep, shaky breath. "I don't know."

"And we're back to that," Rufus snarled maliciously. "I can't believe this. It wasn't even a _real_ fucking mission!"

"What?"

"It was a fucking set-up," Rufus swore. "A bunch of amateurs you should have been able to take care of with both hands and your feet tied behind your back. The whole point was to get you alone with Cloud so he could _fuck you_ and loosen up your _fucking_ attitude."

Sephiroth's heart plummeted. Everything…everything had just been…a job?

"Cloud was just here to…"

"To be a hot, tight ass for you to fuck. And you managed to get him shot."

Sephiroth hung up and turned off his phone when it started ringing again. He put his head in his hands and stared at the floor until the nurse came in.

"Cloud's in recovery. Would you like to see him?"

Sephiroth was quiet for a long time, and the woman contemplated leaving when the big man stood up. She handed him his ID back and waved for him to follow her.

She lead him through a maze of corridors before shoving open one of the large, double doors. The room inside was large and sectioned off with multiple curtains. She walked up to one curtained off area and pulled the drape aside to let Sephiroth in.

"One of the doctors should be here after a bit to let you know what's going on. Don't be surprised if he stays unconscious. The anesthesia will take awhile to work its way out of his system." She nodded once at the silent man before sliding the drape back and leaving Sephiroth alone with Cloud.

Had it all been…a lie?

Everything…was it just the world's best seduction?

According to Rufus, it was. And…Cloud was one of the world's best whores, after all. This was what he did. Seduction, sex…it was all in a day's work.

Sephiroth finally looked at the boy on the hospital bed. Cloud looked…so small. There were no bandages over the exposed piece of chest Sephiroth could see peeking out of the blankets, but he could see the edge of a fresh, red scar.

He reached out and took a hold of the blankets and pulled them down enough to see what had to of been the exit wound. It looked like it had been meticulously pieced together before it was healed to minimize scarring. He touched the raised welts, and startled as Cloud shifted.

Blue eyes fluttered open. They stared forward dimly before finally starting to search the room. When he saw Sephiroth leaning over him, he started struggling to say something, to move, to throw himself at the larger man.

"Don't. You'll hurt yourself," Sephiroth said, voice caught in his throat. He should leave. Cloud didn't…Cloud was just…he was nothing to the blond besides a job.

The smaller man stopped struggling, but it was obvious he was trying to say something. The breathing tube in his throat didn't allow for any words to be formed, and those…those…those _eyes_ begged Sephiroth to listen to what he couldn't say.

Swallowing the ache in his throat, the silver haired man glanced around the room. A small stand held a pad of hospital stationary and a pen, along with other sundries. He picked it up and put the pen in Cloud's right hand. The blond blinked and waved with his left.

Cloud was a lefty.

Sephiroth took the pen, resituated it, and put the paper underneath. The blond squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and then started scribbling.

The handwriting was hard to read, skewed by angle, drugs, and lingering pain, but it only took Sephiroth a moment to decipher the chicken-scratch.

_I love you_.

Cloud's hand weakly dropped the pen and flopped back to the bed, IV tubes rattling against the plastic side-guard. He blinked up at Sephiroth, eyes trying to convey what his voice and face could not due to the breathing apparatus covering most of it. His hand made a grabbing motion, still too weak to be lifted up again. Sephiroth, as if in a trance, reached down to grasp Cloud's hand. That small appendage squeezed as much as it could, and Sephiroth saw a tear make its way out of Cloud's eye.

_I love you_.

"I talked to Rufus," Sephiroth managed to rumble out despite the ache in his throat. "He told me…why we're here. The real reason."

Cloud clenched his eyes closed and more tears poured down his cheeks. That tiny hand clenched around Sephiroth's in a hold that begged him to not let go, never let go.

"Is that what everything was," Sephiroth croaked out. "Was it all a job?"

Cloud shook his head as much as he could. He tried to speak again and gagged himself in the process. Sephiroth heard the rapid beeping of the monitors as Cloud's heartbeat and blood pressure went up.

The beeping brought one of the doctors, still in his surgical scrubs. He pulled a syringe out of one of the multiple carts in the sectioned off area and injected it into one of the IVs running into Cloud. The blond's eyes drooped moments later as the heart rate also slowed. In short order the blond was unconscious again.

"I can't believe he's awake already," the surgeon muttered. "This kid just keeps throwing me curveballs."

"Are you the surgeon?" the general asked, clearing his throat and rapidly blinking his eyes. He wasn't going to cry, no matter how much he wanted to.

The doctor turned to regard the other man. "Yes. I'm Doctor Winchester. I did Cloud's surgery."

"Thank you," Sephiroth said gratefully.

"It's what I love to do. No thanks needed…I don't believe we've been introduced, but I can probably take a wild guess as to who you are," the doctor said wryly.

"General Sephiroth," the silver haired man said in acknowledgement. "And I still say thank you."

"Again, none needed but appreciated, General."

"What happened?" Sephiroth whispered, still holding the blond's hand.

"He was technically dead twice. Once in the hands of the paramedics, and again when he got here. He lost…a lot of blood. Honestly, he should have been dead. I don't know how he managed to hold on so long." The doctor sighed and pushed a button on the vital-stats machine to silence the steady beeping.

The sudden silence worried Sephiroth more than the noise had annoyed him. The comforting beeps that assured him Cloud's heart was still going steadily. His fingers slipped to hold Cloud's wrist and press to a delicate pulse point. The thready throb under his fingertips was a reassurance Sephiroth desperately needed at the moment.

"His workup showed massive amounts of mako in his system. Is he a SOLDIER?" the doctor asked curiously. "We couldn't find anything on him that would indicate he was, but-"

"No," Sephiroth shook his head. "He's not a SOLDIER."

"Well, the mako is probably what saved him. That, and…did you cast a Cure on him?"

Sephiroth nodded, still feeling guilty that he hadn't done enough…that he hadn't stayed to check…that he hadn't…

"It's a good thing you only did a superficial cure," the doctor said, startling Sephiroth into almost dropping Cloud's hand. "There were bullet fragments lodged…everywhere. If you had done a Full Cure…you would have sealed all those fragments into his lungs, his heart…even his liver. We would have had to rip him open all over again to retrieve them. As it was, we were able to go in through entrance and exit wounds, remove the fragments, and Heal him up completely. I take it you're…the significant other?" the doctor asked delicately.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

The doctor cleared his throat. "He's not a SOLDIER, yet he has a huge amount of mako in his system. You're here, looking like someone just shot your…well…boyfriend. It was just a logical step."

"Is he going to be alright?" Sephiroth avoided the issue with a question.

The doctor raised an eyebrow but answered anyway. "We're worried about his lung. Even with surgery and Cures, there was not a lot of tissue to work with which makes it very delicate at the moment. He'll need to stay here several days until we're sure he's stable. I'm going to consult with a mako-specialist in a few minutes, but I'm assuming he'll also need a mako-transfusion before he crashes. Which, that could be soon after what he just went through."

Mako. It can heal wounds, make someone stronger, faster. Once stabilized, mako levels tended to stay that way…until a traumatic event. Then, it was used up faster than it could balance itself. That in and of itself could cause major damage to the body.

"I can donate, if he needs it," Sephiroth offered, reaching up to pull Cloud's blankets higher on the delicate chest.

"Thank you," the doctor nodded. "I was wondering how we'd get something here in such short notice. Even the nearest SOLDIER unit was farther away than I wanted to contemplate. I'll get a filtering machine up here as soon as possible. We'll start filtering your blood immediately. It shouldn't be long before the specialist knows how much mako Cloud will need to be stabilized." The doctor checked vitals again before nodding to Sephiroth and leaving.

Sephiroth stared down at the small body in the bed. He was so confused. Did Cloud mean it? Was it just a show? How could he know what was real and what wasn't?

_I love you_.

************************

Sephiroth sat quietly next to Cloud's bed as he was hooked up to what looked like a rarely-if ever used mako-filtering machine. It was something found in all SOLDIER MASH tents and most hospitals. When mako couldn't be flown in or found in its easily injectable form, the quickest way to save a dying comrade was to give them some of your own mako. Hospitals like this had little use for such a machine, but usually had one around 'just in case.'

Sephiroth had never been more grateful for 'just in case.'

The specialist seemed highly nervous as he placed needles where they needed to be, plugged in tubes and punched buttons. It wasn't long before Sephiroth felt the pull of blood from his body and into the machine only to reappear in a separate tube hooked up to his other arm. The whir of the machine was rather quiet, compared to the tense chattering of the specialist. The silver haired man's patented glare made the stuttering man leave quickly after assuring the machine was working properly.

Sephiroth settled back into his chair and watched as Cloud continued to sleep. He hadn't awoken again, and the doctor was hoping to keep him that way. The more relaxed the blond was, the faster he would heal. The more he struggled and tried to talk, the more likely he was to damage his lung.

There was so much going through his mind. The topmost was the screaming thought that he'd been played. The second was that he didn't care. The third was that _Cloud loved him_.

But did he really?

Was it just a way to ensure Sephiroth would do what it took to keep him alive? Or was it the scared mind of a boy who thought he was dying, and didn't want the one he loved to never know how he felt?

He was going to have to wait until Cloud was awake and able to talk.

Until then…

Sephiroth watched as his blood moved down the tube and into the machine. He had to make sure Cloud healed enough to _have_ that talk.

********************

Rufus stormed through the sliding doors of the hospital. It had been a long, frustrating plane ride to Icicle. There was nothing he could do. He'd thrown money at every doctor and specialist that had anything to do with Cloud's recovery. Although, no matter how much money he offered them, they all told him the same thing.

Cloud was going to have to heal on his own.

He shrugged off his expensive, designer coat and handed it to one of his assistants. The hospital administrator met him at the door, immediately thanking him for the large donation and kissing his ass.

Rufus wanted none of it. "Where is Cloud?"

Practically groveling and reassuring that 'Mr. Strife' was getting the best care possible, the administrator showed Rufus up the elevator, down several halls, and into a darkened private room. Rufus dismissed everyone except Tseng and entered the room.

Sephiroth sat slumped in the bedside chair. Rufus had never seen the regal and pulled-together man look like…

Utter crap.

Green, mako eyes glanced up and blinked solemnly.

Rufus dragged his gaze reluctantly to the bed.

Cloud was still hooked up to the ventilator and multiple IV lines. He looked so pale and…delicate.

Rufus came forward as Tseng hung back by the entrance to the room. He pulled up to the side of the bed and reached forward to touch Cloud's cheek. Cloud was usually warm and pliant and soft beneath his fingertips. Now, he was cold. The skin was tacky and stiff with dried tears and sweat.

"Why did I send you here?" he whispered. "What did I do to you?" He looked up at Sephiroth, rage in his eyes. "What did _you_ do to him? You were supposed to _protect_ him."

"I know," the silver haired man breathed.

"Why didn't you?" Rufus demanded.

"Because…I love him," Sephiroth said quietly.

Rufus' mouth worked for a full minute before he finally managed to gasp out, "And how does that mean you let him get shot?"

"I wasn't paying attention," the general murmured. "I was…we were…flirting. He was so beautiful that all I could see was him."

"You were distracted," Rufus said, echoing the words from their first conversation.

The other man nodded and reached out to touch Cloud's hand.

Rufus looked down at the small blond. The boy he'd kept for almost two years now. He was rather attached to him. He definitely wasn't _in love_ with Cloud, but he most definitely held affection for him.

"You know that this was just an elaborate plan to get you laid, right?"

Sephiroth nodded. "I heard you the first time."

"Did you know before I told you?"

"No."

"I hate to ask this but…how do you know you love Cloud if-"

"I know I love him. I know that he loves me, too."

"How?"

Sephiroth reached with his free hand to rifle in his pocket. He pulled out a piece of paper and carefully unfolded it. He handed it to Rufus over Cloud's bed. Despite the odd quality to it, he recognized Cloud's handwriting when he saw it.

_I love you_.

"When?"

"He woke up after the surgery."

Rufus looked at the writing, stunned. "Did you tell him that you knew?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"I asked him if it was all a lie."

"What did he say?"

"He couldn't say anything, due to the breathing tube. But…he made it clear that he wasn't lying."

Rufus didn't say anything, but handed the paper back to Sephiroth. "Don't think I'm going to forgive you," Rufus said coldly.

"I'm not going to forgive _myself_."

The sandy-blond couldn't argue with that. Rufus cleared his throat. "How long are they going to keep him out?"

Sephiroth shrugged. "Until they feel his lung has healed enough. The process seems to be going faster since they gave him my mako."

"You donated _your_ mako? Is that safe?"

"It wasn't any safer to make him wait until enough units of injectable mako were flown in."

"But…_your_ mako? That seems…beyond dangerous."

"He hasn't gotten sick yet, and it's been several hours. If he was going to have a reaction, he'd have done so by now. If anything, he seems to be getting better."

Rufus nodded and pulled up a chair. "I hope," he said as he made himself comfortable, "That you don't mind if I join you."

Sephiroth shook his head and tightened his grip on Cloud's hand. "I think Cloud would like to have you here."

"Cloud would probably like to have a threesome with us," Rufus snorted. "He's a horny little bastard."

Sephiroth couldn't help but smile.

**********************

When they finally allowed Cloud to wake up, the first thing he saw was green, cat-slitted eyes set in a patrician face filled with worry.

"You look like shit," Cloud croaked out, trying to smile around his chapped lips.

Sephiroth laughed, but it came out as more of a repressed sob. "So do you, you little bitch."

"Am I going to be ok?" the blond whispered and worked his mouth trying work up some moisture.

"Yes," Sephiroth said and reached to the bedside to pick up a cup. He fished out one of the ice chips and fed it to Cloud's thirsty mouth. "You're healing faster than expected."

"Mmm," Cloud mumbled, closing his eyes tiredly. "I feel…"

"Like you got shot?" Sephiroth asked with a smile.

"Ya. Kind a like that." His mouth opened in a silent demand for more ice. Sephiroth complied and after feeding the blond another chip, traced his finger over cracked lips.

"Did I tell you that I loved you?" Cloud whispered, opening his eyes again.

Sephiroth's breath hitched. "Yes."

"Good," Cloud said. "I thought it might have been a dream. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't."

"I let you get hurt," Sephiroth quietly mourned. "You could have died."

"I did die," the blond said simply.

Sephiroth sucked in several short breaths. "You're alive. You didn't die. They saved you," he managed to strangle out.

"I've been in the Lifestream before," Cloud said dreamily. "When I was fighting the mako poisoning. I was in and out, floating…I went there again."

"Don't. Just…don't. You aren't dead."

"Not anymore," Cloud agreed. "I do love you. I didn't fake that. I couldn't."

"I love you, too," Sephiroth said, leaning down to gently caress Cloud's chapped lips with his own.

"You're both adorable in a traumatic, make my brain bleed kind of way," Rufus said from the doorway. The general and blond made no move to cease their kiss. The executive rolled his eyes and moved into the room. "You can stop any time."

The silver haired man finally pulled back, smiling at the small body on the bed. Cloud smiled back as much as he could.

"You know, this means you're going to have to find me something cute, small, and male to warm my bed and spend my money."

"I think I know someone you'll enjoy," Cloud croaked. "I'll get right on that when we get back to Midgar."

Rufus leaned over the bed and pressed a kiss to Cloud's forehead. "I'm glad you're ok."

"Thank you, for everything," Cloud said gratefully, then he smiled as deviously as he possibly could. "Didn't I tell you that you'd regret it?"

Rufus smiled. "Ya, you did." He cleared his throat and kissed Cloud one more time. "I have to get back to Midgar, now that I know you're going to be ok." He turned to Sephiroth and regarded him very seriously. "I'm leaving him in your hands. Don't get him shot this time," Rufus said, eyebrows raised.

Sephiroth nodded, "Promise."

Rufus turned and swept out of the room, silent Turks trailing behind.

"When do I get to leave?" Cloud asked, pulling on Sephiroth's hand to bring him closer.

The general lowered the side-guards and very carefully and gingerly, got into the narrow bed with the smaller man. Tubes were moved out of the way, Cloud was shifted over, and Sephiroth brought that little body into the curve of his own. "I couple more days, just to make sure. I'll stay with you."

"Mmm," Cloud rested his head on Sephiroth's chest. "I might not be able to keep my hands off of you that long."

"Well," Sephiroth said, stroking Cloud's soft hair, "when we get you out of here, we'll have all the sex you want."

"Nothing kinky," the blond sighed. "Just straight up vanilla monkey sex."

"How is monkey sex vanilla?"

"Believe me, it's vanilla."

Sephiroth smiled, it was filled with severe relief, disbelief, and…happiness.

"You're going to have to move in with me, and you'll hate my apartment."

"You're going to have to put up with me."

"You're going to hate my job."

"You're going to be broke."

"You're going to drive me insane," Sephiroth murmured, kissing Cloud's lips.

Cloud kissed back, feeling safe and warm and loved. "You act like you want it."

Sephiroth smiled, dragging his lips up to Cloud's ear and breathed. "Because I do."

END

_Stay tuned for sequel…Straight Vanilla_


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